Arts & Culture | Film

Every spring, as Israel Independence Day nears, I receive many requests from institutions seeking to screen a film that celebrates Israel. They’re not looking for one with a complicated or progressive view of Israel; they’re looking for a new, good old-fashioned, unquestionably Zionist film. As director of the Israel Film Center at The JCC in Manhattan, I try to see all the quality Israeli films, and every year I have a hard time finding such films to celebrate Israel Independence Day.

John Turturro – not a Jew – has portrayed a number of memorable Jewish characters. In his latest film, “Fading Gigolo,” which he wrote, directed, and stars in, he plays a male prostitute named Fioravante who pretends to be a Sephardi Jew who comes into contact with the Satmar sect. He sat down to talk about what it was like to direct Woody Allen, whether Liev Schreiber’s payess in the film were real and why his sex scenes in the film weren’t as glamorous as you might think.

Lucia Puenzo’s first feature film, “XXY,” served notice that another important voice was emerging from the New Argentine Cinema. Her third film, “The German Doctor,” which opens Friday, April 25, suggests that Puenzo’s voice has matured rapidly. Her artistic growth, no doubt, has been fueled by her multiplicity of activities. In a period of only 10 years, she has written and published five novels (including “Wakolda,” the basis for the new film), three feature films, three shorts and two TV mini-series. Granta chose her as one of the 20 best young Hispanophone novelists a couple of years ago and, although the competition is formidable, I suspect she will soon be recognized as one of Argentina’s most promising younger filmmakers as well.

It’s no secret that in recent years HBO Documentary Films has become one of the most reliable sources of funding and/or broadcasting for adventurous non-fiction filmmaking. But it’s worth restating that fact when two of its newest productions are on display in this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. (One hastens to add that Tribeca is, among the major American film festivals, one of the most prolific and creative programmers of documentary films.)